Sunday, 19 August 2018

One of the greatest frustrations we
experience as coaches is watching our clients try to lose weight, or rather
body fat, unsuccessfully. They might be training regularly and consistently following
our advice about good quality strength programing and healthy eating, but the
weight still won’t budge. It can be hard to watch.

Are you one of the kazillions of Aussies
who try to lose weight relentlessly but have no luck? Or have you lost it, put
it back on again, lost it once more, and now see it slowly going back on again?

Is it any wonder Australia has an
unhealthy relationship with food, one of the highest obesity rates and major
issues with consistency? There are often some fairly simple, but not so obvious
reasons as to why weight loss can become very challenging for some. Perhaps
one, or all of these, apply to you.

I wrote this one with some help from my
own naturopath, Trudy Cadoo. Trudy helped me stabilize my own weight after many
years of fluctuation and struggle, and I often send clients her way who are
having their own troubles either losing weight or maintaining weight loss.

Here are my top five reasons.

Incorrect
training style

A lot of people attempt to ‘burn off fat’ just
with cardio, and don’t engage in any weights training for fear of bulking up.
This works initially, as any movement will help the body start to burn calories,
but the inevitable plateau will hit and suddenly the weight loss will stop.
Additionally, your body is not only burning body fat but also lean muscle,
which then gives you the skinny and saggy look. This is not ideal as we age,
trust me. That person will give up and the weight will pile back on.

Weights training helps the body to grow
lean muscle. Lean muscle supports the metabolism and helps to keep it firing.
With the correct programming, the body can experience EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise
Oxygen Consumption) for up to 30+ hours. This means your body continues to burn
calories long after the exercise ends, unlike cardio alone where EPOC is far
less effective. Training inefficiently is another one we see a lot of in the
gym. Coming in way too many times each week and just training for the sake of
ticking it off. Get yourself a well structured program, written by a Coach who
is an expert at this and get your life back! Everyone has time for exercise, if
it well structured and results driven.

Grab a coach and learn how to try effectively and efficiently. This is a game changer.

Sleep

Sleep plays a MAJOR role in our body’s
ability to lose body fat. This is mostly due to the effect poor quality sleep
has on the various hormones in the body. When our quality of sleep is impaired,
our body releases greater levels of cortisol during the day. Cortisol breaks down
muscle tissue, so increased levels of cortisol from poor sleep or stress will
ultimately break down lean muscle, which will ultimately affect your body’s
metabolism.

Poor sleep will also affect your body’s
appetite and hunger, and you may find yourself craving carbohydrates (the
simple carbs in particular) more than normal, which will in turn affect your
body’s insulin levels. Sleep deprivation can also decrease the body’s glucose
and insulin sensitivity, putting the body at greater risk of developing
diabetes.

Trudy Cadoo talks about stress and
cortisol:

“I'm not sure there
is any way of avoiding stress these days, it's all about the management.
Lifestyle, physical and psychological stresses put constant demands on the
adrenal glands. Symptoms include fatigue, hypotension, lowered resistance to
stress, salt cravings, hypoglycaemia and lowered immunity. People with a high
level of stress can show an altered level of cortisol and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone
– an endogenous steroid hormone). I find cortisol to be a major contributor to
overall hormonal imbalance and weight gain in many women in clinic. Stress
management techniques, healthy eating tips to support the nervous system and
overall wellbeing, combined with core nutrients and herbals can make a world of
difference to someone under stress.”

Diet

This is a biggie and I blame the fitness
industry for this one. There has been so much confusion over the years about
what to eat and what not to eat. Eat carbs, don’t eat carbs. Eat fruit, don’t
eat fruit. Diet food, low fat, high fat, no sugar, all of the sugar. I could go
on and on. I believe this confusion has led to many humans eating well periodically,
then getting frustrated, and then having a blow out before starting the process
all over again.

What if we just simplified this and went back
to basics. Meat products, loads of vegetables and fruit, good quality fats and
lots of water. Forget the processed food, just eat simple, eat colorful and
learn to love food again. Understand the three macros (proteins, fats and
carbohydrates) and how it’s important they work together. Don’t restrict
calories. Stop dieting and don’t chase fads. If someone suggests low calorie,
run for the hills because the minute you go back to eating properly, all of the
weight you lost will pile straight back on again. We also fund that under
eating will eventually lead to storage of body fat, rather than loss. And your
body will start to rip into the lean muscle for fuel. Not the outcome you were
looking for.

An important point to keep in mind is that
genetic factors can play a major role in the body’s ability lose body fat, and
until we fully understand our genes we may be pushing shit up hill. This is why
I really believe there isn’t one diet that suits everyone. Here’s Trudy’s
explanation on how your genes may be affecting you while you don’t even realise
it:

Go for colour!

“The tailoring of treatment to patients has always
been a fundamental feature of functional and complementary medicine. Now,
advances in genetic testing mean we can determine how a person's genes may
influence their health as well as identify more suitable treatment protocols to
help optimise overall health and wellbeing. Some people are genetically more
prone to having a weight problem. Your genes influence how much total fat,
saturated fat and carbohydrates you can tolerate. Your genes influence how much
fat you absorb from food, how much body fat you can create, how effectively you
can burn body fat, the best type of exercise for you to burn body fat, and how
prone you are to rebound weight gain.

Understanding these
genetic influences enables you to make the best choices around diet and
exercise for successful weight loss and long-term weight loss.”

Hormones

Hormones
are one of the biggest factors I see affecting women. I can generally tell if a
woman’s weight loss is being affected by hormones simply by looking at where
they are carrying their excess body fat. This can be managed and controlled with
the right help and support and can often be managed without seeking medical
intervention.

Trudy says about
hormones:

“Oftentimes, thyroid is considered
when weight is creeping on and this could certainly be the driver as the
thyroid has a key role in regulating the metabolism. Other hormones may need to
be considered, including insulin, leptin, cortisol as discussed under stress,
and sex hormones – oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

“Aside from the hormonal changes of peri
menopause and menopause, women diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome
(PCOS) may also experience weight
gain. Hormonal changes in your middle years can also cause your metabolism to slow
down, leading to weight gain. As
well as dietary recommendations, natural herbs and nutritionals can help you
keep your hormonal system in balance.”

Alcohol Consumption

Yes, I am going to
talk about alcohol one more time. If you are not prepared to give up alcohol
for a period of time when trying to lose weight, be prepared to also give up on
your weight loss goal. The two do not complement each other. When consuming
alcohol, your body is going to try and use the calories in the alcohol first. You’re
then going to eat some kind of crappy food, which your body will not have the
ability to metabolise. You are also pouring poison into your body, which is
going to increase the appearance of fatty deposits under your skin (cellulite),
specifically around your thighs, lower back and tummy.

Don’t believe me?
There is enough research and evidence to support this, but here’s my
suggestion. Give it up for twelve weeks and watch what happens to your fat
loss. Do a solid detox during this time and give your body and organs a chance
to heal. Around the six-week mark, expect people to start commenting on how
fresh your skin and hair look.

Weight loss or body
recomposition can be extremely frustrating for many of us, especially women.
But here’s the part you probably don’t want to hear. If you need to lose
weight, there is no quick fix. It takes hard work, commitment and a genuine
acceptance that,

a)it needs to happen, and

b)you will need help and support.

Often, the hardest
part of this journey is accepting that it needs to happen. Accept the truth
about where you are now and acknowledge that it is time to make some changes.
The road may not be easy for you, but it is absolutely worth it and you deserve
to experience life in a healthy weight range, full of energy and beautiful
health.

Our Twelve Week Challenge starts this weekend at Ritual HQ. If you would like to start the process of changing your body composition, with the right help and support, then reach out as we have limited spaces available.

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

There are a lot of things you don’t find
out about motherhood until after you’re committed to this child birth/baby
thing. I have been in the thick of this many times thinking – why the hell
didn’t anyone tell me it was going to be like this?

Like, how much is labour going to hurt? Well
hot damn, nobody could have quite prepared me for that level of excruciating,
vagina tearing pain.

But hey, I survived. If you want to know
what it’s really going to feel like, come chat to me. Oh, and just so you know,
you don’t actually forget what it feels like. That’s just another story we get
told, BUT it is totally worth it and I 100% would not change a thing about the
delivery of my babies, except maybe the 26-hour labour with Josie.

Ever since I became a mother I decided to
never lie about what it was actually like because I really felt like, had I
known, MAYBE I may have been more prepared. So, if someone asks me, they get
the truth. I also recognise that as mothers we don’t want to necessarily let on
how hard we are finding this motherhood journey for fear of looking like a
failure.

Or for fear of being judged.

Screw that, if you want to honestly know
the ins and outs of what it’s going to be like, come chat to me. Disclaimer – I
may turn you off having kids forever.

However, I wouldn’t change the gifts it’s
given me for the world. My kids are my life and I love them more than I ever
imagined possible, but here’s my blog on what it’s REALLY like to be a working
mother, with a few quotes thrown in from some of the mums in my Mums Who Lift community at Ritual HQ.

I remember thinking, before having
children, that once they were ‘out’ I would be able to work from home and raise
my babies. I had visions of me sitting calmly at my desk while my baby slept
angelically in a cot beside me with gentle music playing.

In my mind I was going to have a roaringly
successful Personal Training Business while nursing my baby. Then, after six or
so months I was going to head back to my job at the bank full time and it was
all going to be fine.

I couldn’t have had this more wrong if I
tried.

What quickly became apparent to me was that
I urgently had to redefine what success looked like. Success no longer looked
like me strutting off to my city job with my six-figure income, stilettos and
pencil skirt, and immaculate hair and make-up. Success was now getting to midday
and managing to go to the toilet and take a dump without a baby screaming from
another room (or managing to do this without taking the baby with me in their Baby
Bjorn carrier because they can’t be put down that day). Maybe throwing toast in
my mouth (because you can hold toast in your mouth while breast feeding a baby
and juggling at least one other task) and MAYBE brushing my hair.

If I was really having a good day, I might
even manage to get out of my pyjamas and – wait for it – put on a bra! Nobody
told me that whilst breast feeding is absolutely beautiful and an incredible
thing to do for your baby and their health, it is actually very challenging (for
some of us it hurts like HELL in the early days) and will consume hours of your
day. I recall one witching hour feed lasting nearly two hours. Oh, and witching
hour is another term I had never heard of. This is the time around dusk when
babies turn crazy. Fact.

Without redefining success, the feeling of
failure was imminent, and this came regardless. On a good day, the thought of
taking on any kind of intellectual work was so far from my mind because the
fatigue from sleep deprivation would swamp me like a dark wet blanket. Did you
know that sleep deprivation was used as a form of torture by the CIA as part of
their interrogation techniques? I can confirm this would work.

Daycare is certainly an option and one I
indulged in after the first year. But we need to be realistic about the cost of
daycare (whilst factoring in the cost of your sanity). At one stage, my income
was only JUST covering the daycare fees.

For me these days, now that my children are
no longer babies, a successful morning is managing to get both kids to school
with their hair brushed and shoes on both feet…on time. An extra successful day
is when I manage to brush my own hair. I don’t always have successful days!
Even now.

One of my mums in my Mums Who Lift community sums this up beautifully – the guilt, plus
the mornings, plus the juggling act. Amelia says:

“I feel like
most of my parenting stress is trying to leave the house for a specific time x
100 when you have to leave the house to get to work and they don’t want to get out of bed let alone get ready.

“I can never stay late at work to finish something like I used to as I
have to get home to pick them up. I feel guilty during school hols because they
go to holiday care and then feel I need to arrange stuff for us to do on my
days off when actually they probably need a boring day resting at home (they whinged,
fought and complained all day Monday at the activity I’d planned for them).

“The days I work I feel like we’re all
on a conveyor belt with not enough time to get dinner in, showers, homework and
some reading before bed. And I only work three days and have a partner (I have
no family here though). I can’t
imagine what fulltime and single parents have to deal with.”

My two are regulars at my workplace,mostly out of necessity

These days, I do somehow manage to run two
businesses, manage a team of nine, hold a relationship together, manage a
separated parenting arrangement and seem to have two relatively well balanced
kids, albeit extremely busy kids! But like all of us mums who work excessive
hours and manage kids, it comes at a cost and for many of us it is precious
time with our kids. I know I have missed a lot of time with my children, however I do have some non-negotiables that ensure the quality is always there.

We also had to learn to work at a level of
speed and precision we never imagined possible. Time management skills needed
to go to another level and we had to accept that down time or rest time was a
luxury that no longer existed. And if you seek this kind of time to yourself, resentment mounts. The other thing I didn’t realise is the pressure
that compounds your day when your kids go to school. Suddenly you have a
thousand letters to read, music lessons, extra tests, parent teacher
interviews, newsletters to absorb, parenting apps, parent reps, volunteering
activities, fetes and play dates to navigate. Oh, and birthday parties. Nobody
prepared me for this, or the pressure of school holidays, but that’s another
blog.

I have been lucky enough to integrate my work intothe kid's school so I can be more present for them ina more creative way.

Single mum Lisa explains her world and how
it has played out now that her children are a little older:

“I learned that
I can’t do it all, and
I was going to fail everywhere unless I reframed. I was lucky enough to buy
extra annual leave for holidays for a few years – and then had one week per
hols with them. That was my bargaining chip for holiday/before/after school
care. And they were fine with this deal. And I gave up on giving a shit what
anyone thought.

“I’ve worked stupid
hours for so long but despite a few horrors (armed burglar in the house with my
son whilst I’m at work,
occasionally forgetting to pick them up or where I had left them, and regularly not getting home
til they’re in bed). I
also found the bloody joy in watching them look after each other and learn to
help me run a house.

“And all my
guilt about having to juggle 80-hour weeks and single parenting whilst on a
massive IT project was washed away when just weeks ago I apologised to them for
my long work hours when they were little, and they both had no idea what I was
talking about!! No memory of my absence!!!! This is forgiveness for sure!!!!”

Interestingly, despite discovering all of
these things along the way that I had wish I had known, I can now laugh at my
naivety. I also know that there is nothing you can say to a mum to be to
prepare them for any of this. If a mum had tried to warn me about all of this,
I would have nodded, smiled and thought to myself, “yes, but it won’t be like
that for me.”

And here is one final thing nobody prepared
me for – the depth of love I feel for my children. This hit me harder than
anything I could have ever imagined. Every time one of my children gets on
stage to dance or sing or play an instrument, or hit the sporting field to do
something, I literally weep. Nothing prepared me for the fear I would feel
watching one of them cross the road for the first time, or the mumma bear
instinct I would experience when my child got picked on at school or how much I
would miss cuddling my tiny babies now that they were bigger, despite those
years being some of my hardest years. Nothing prepares you for any of this and
I guess this is probably a good thing. Because had I known how hard it was
going to be I would have missed out on the unconditional love I give and
receive now every day from these two tiny humans.